5 things you need to stop doing if you want a gorgeous garden

So you really want a gorgeous garden to relax in at the end of the day.  But no matter how hard you try or how many hours you spend out there it still looks a mess.  

Here are five things you need to stop doing to make your gorgeous garden a reality.

Thinking about it but not taking action

Be honest now, how much time have you spent thinking and dreaming about what you want your garden to look like?

Yes procrastinating over getting started is keeping you safe.  You can’t balls it up if you never actually start right?  But it’s also not moving you any closer to making your dream garden a reality.

The biggest tip I can give you.  Start small. Focus on one small area of your garden and get that looking gorgeous. Grow your confidence as you grow your plants.  Once you are happy with it, make yourself a cuppa and sit and admire what you’ve created.  Allow yourself to feel proud and then use that new found confidence to move on to the next area in your garden.

Scrolling social media for inspiration

And yes this does include Pinterest.  Look, I'm all for getting inspiration but there comes a point when all the images you’re seeing and being inspired by are actually making it more difficult for you to get a clear vision of what your dream garden looks like.  

It’s for this exact reason that I take clients through my dream garden visualisation when we start working together. So that they can block out all the noise and tap into their intuition when it comes to choosing the size and shape of beds and borders, sensory plant selection and seating areas to relax and unwind in.

So today I want you to promise me that you’ll stop the consumption.  Close your eyes and imagine yourself in your dream garden space.  What does it look like? Grab a pad of paper and a pen and draw or write down what you see.

Thinking you have to spend loads of time on your garden

In the past gardening has been viewed by many as the hobby of time rich retirees and this has given the impression that you need to have loads of time if you want to have a gorgeous garden.

This is absolute bollocks.  And I’m a case in point, mum to 2 young girls who runs her own business, a household and organises pretty much everyone's lives.  I don’t have oodles of time in which to garden.  I’m just very canny with the time I do have.  

I’ve created a list of mindful gardening activities that need to be done in my garden each month and recorded how long they take (either 5, 20 or 60 minutes) and I make sure I pencil one activity a day into my diary to ensure not only my garden is kept healthy and looking gorgeous but that I also maintain my mental wellbeing.  

This time in the garden is especially important for me when life gets busy and the temptation is real to forgo my gardening for wellbeing activities.

The trick is to choose plants that don’t require loads of fussing and faffing. Plants that will come up in your garden year after year with very little input from you.

AND then commit to spending just 5 minutes a day in your garden creating your green haven.

Planting plants before getting to know your space

Have you ever planted something in your garden and no sooner have you done so it starts to struggle and then dies?

This is super common.  And in my experience the biggest culprit is…..not having the conditions available in your garden for the plant to thrive.

Peonies for example require at least 6 hours of sunlight in a day to flower really well. If I had a pound for every person I worked with who’s peony wasn't flowering and it turned out they were trying to grow it in a shaded area of their garden, i’d be able to afford to buy every plant in the garden centre!

Ever planted bulbs in the garden and then never seen hide nor hair of them again?  Chances are your garden has clay soil. Bulbs really, really struggle in clay soil. They hate to be wet as it means they just rot away, hence why you never see any flowers come up.

By working out what conditions your garden has to offer and THEN choosing plants that suit the conditions you’ll have far more success.

Reading all the blogs and books for advice

I mean has your brain really got any space in it for MORE information?  You’re busy, you’re juggling a million plates and in all likelihood if you’re reading this then you’re interested in using gardening to quieten your mind, not add to the noise.

There are times in life when you just have to allow yourself to be a beginner and get started.  To make the mistakes, kill the odd plant (we all do it and I still do even after years of practice).  Yes it’s scary to admit that you don’t know it all, but with gardening it is true that you learn so much more by trying and failing than you do by reading about trying and never actually doing it.

If you’re ready to allow yourself to be a beginner and yet you still want some support as you find your way then this is exactly what I help with in my Create your own Garden support package.

Let me know in the comments which of these resonates.